Joel Embiid is on the sidelines once again, this time due to increased swelling in his left knee. On Jan. 17, the Philadelphia 76ers ruled out Embiid for at least a week, which meant he won’t be playing against the Denver Nuggets on the road for the fifth consecutive season, as the teams will face off on Jan. 21 at Ball Arena.
Embiid last played against the Nuggets in Denver on Nov. 8, 2019, 1,898 days ago. With him missing this game, it’s a guarantee that he’ll go over 2,000 days without playing in Denver as the earliest the teams can possibly play there after Tuesday’s clash is in the NBA Finals in June.
Embiid missing so many games in a row in Denver has led to a narrative that he has been ducking Nikola Jokic on the road. So, has he been? Well, let’s take a deeper look.
This run of missed games began in the 2020-21 season, as Embiid didn’t play in Denver on March 30, 2021. You can’t really accuse him of ducking on that occasion, though, as he had hyperextended his knee and suffered a bone bruise earlier in the month. Embiid missed 10 games as a result and one of them was the contest in question.
We next get to 2021-22 and the missed game in Denver was on Nov. 18, 2021. Like the first one, Embiid had a very real reason for sitting out. He had entered the NBA’s Health and Safety Protocols earlier in the month, due to COVID-19. Embiid missed a total of nine games with one of them being in Denver.
So far, there is nothing that indicates Embiid was ducking Jokic, but things get a bit interesting the following season. In 2022-23, he missed the game in Denver on March 27, 2023, due to a calf injury. What was noteworthy about that was it being the only game he missed in a 19-game stretch.
This was when Embiid really started getting accused of ducking Jokic. The two were the leading contenders for MVP at the time and for him to only miss that game in Denver in that stretch wasn’t a great look.
Embiid had just played in a back-to-back against the Golden State Warriors and the Phoenix Suns before that Denver game and perhaps it played a role in his absence. He was seen limping against the Suns too but that didn’t stop the accusations. Nuggets fans even held up missing person posters to troll Embiid in the game against the 76ers.
Finally, we get to last season and there was a bit of controversy surrounding Embiid missing the game in Denver on Jan. 27, 2024. He was all set to play in that one but the 76ers medical staff determined he shouldn’t play due to a left knee issue.
Embiid was ruled out just minutes before tip-off and the accusations intensified with it. What was interesting there, was that he had played each of the 76ers’ six games prior to that one.
Now, to be fair to Embiid he did miss the next game against the Portland Trail Blazers as well, so it wasn’t as bad of a look as the season before. Still, how he was ruled out for this game roused suspicion.
Nuggets head coach Michael Malone even urged the NBA to investigate Embiid’s absence. It’s unclear if the league looked into it, but no punishment was handed out to him or the 76ers.
So, there you have it. There isn’t anything suspicious when it comes to the first, second, and fifth games. As for the other two, it is understandable why some believe Embiid was ducking. Only he really knows what was going on, though.
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